Euro 2016 fan zone a ‘magnet for terrorists’, warns French police chief

The Eiffel Tower in Paris. AP FILE PHOTO

Crazed football fans are set to camp out near the Eiffel tower in Paris for the Euro 2016 fan zone event in July, but according to Chief of Police Frédéric Péchenard, it would only “offer terrorists a chance for a massacre.”

The month-long celebration starting June 10 will be held in Champs de Mars arena—just below the Eiffel Tower, urges spectators to gather around and watch the games on large screens, as per The Telegraph.

“It’s madness to think you can put 100,000 people in the area below the Eiffel Tower every night for a month without risk,” said Péchenard who was still wary of the deadly attacks in Paris last November and Brussels this year.

Fan zones in Paris and 9 other French cities will reportedly attract up to 7 million people during the June 10 to July 10 championship, with another 2.5 million spectators expected to attend the matches.

A record number of British fans are expected to make their way to France, as England, Wales and Northern Ireland have all qualified for the tourney.  Most of the people will come without tickets on hand, and are most likely to watch the matches in the fan zones instead.

The French sports minister, Patrick Kanner, meanwhile, assured that police will be posted outside the perimeter, with 400 private security officers inside.

He added that metal detectors will be installed at entrances, with pat-downs, CCTV and sniffer dogs.

“The fan zones will be extremely secure. You’ll be much safer in a fan zone than in a bar,” Kanner told the Telegraph.

After the November 13 attacks in the French capital, the security budget for all 10 fan zones was doubled to nearly £19 million, two-thirds of which will be spent on policing the Paris area.

Despite the French government’s promise to come up with the ‘highest security standards’ possible for the event, Péchenard remained skeptical that the 130,000 square-metre area will remain guarded around the clock.

“It will take a lot of police officers, who won’t be available for counter-terrorism operations,” he was quoted saying in the report.

France remains in a state of emergency, which was declared after the November attacks claimed 130 lives. Khristian Ibarrola